Salon.com > Anthony Weinerhttp://www.salon.com
Sun, 02 Aug 2015 23:00:00 +0000enhourly1“Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No”: The inevitable apocalyptic climate catastrophe we know we can defeat (with chainsaws!)http://www.salon.com/2015/07/21/sharknado_3_oh_hell_no_the_inevitable_apocalyptic_climate_catastrophe_we_know_we_can_defeat_with_chainsaws/
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/21/sharknado_3_oh_hell_no_the_inevitable_apocalyptic_climate_catastrophe_we_know_we_can_defeat_with_chainsaws/#commentsTue, 21 Jul 2015 14:47:00 +0000Sonia Saraiyahttp://www.salon.com/?p=14022322I recently discovered that the city I call home will likely be uninhabitable in the span of just a few decades. Leading climate scientist James Hansen just released a study predicting a 10-foot rise in sea levels in as little as 50 years. As Eric Holthaus at Slate put it, “The implications are mindboggling: In the study’s likely scenario, New York City—and every other coastal city on the planet—may only have a few more decades of habitability left.” The study includes the astonishing conclusion that—well, I’ll let Hansen et al tell it:

We conclude that continued high emissions will make multi-meter sea level rise practically unavoidable and likely to occur this century. Social disruption and economic consequences of such large sea level rise could be devastating. It is not difficult to imagine that conflicts arising from forced migrations and economic collapse might make the planet ungovernable, threatening the fabric of civilization.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/07/21/sharknado_3_oh_hell_no_the_inevitable_apocalyptic_climate_catastrophe_we_know_we_can_defeat_with_chainsaws/feed/2Even “cheating dirtbags” deserve privacy: The Ashley Madison hack shows we’ve reached peak sex shaminghttp://www.salon.com/2015/07/20/even_cheating_dirtbags_deserve_privacy_the_ashley_madison_hack_shows_weve_reached_peak_sex_shaming/
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/20/even_cheating_dirtbags_deserve_privacy_the_ashley_madison_hack_shows_weve_reached_peak_sex_shaming/#commentsMon, 20 Jul 2015 18:44:00 +0000Mary Bethhttp://www.salon.com/?p=14021617Can we please get someone to make a chart or a list or some other matrix that clearly defines how a public shaming ought to proceed? I'd like it based on hard data, factoring the severity of the person's transgression, the extent of his or her hypocrisy and, ultimately, containing a clear protocol for what the limits of that individual's social punishment should be. Now that Ashley Madison's client base has allegedly been compromised, we're going to need it.

We are truly living in a glorious age of humiliation. You'd probably have to go back to the Plymouth colony to find another time when pointing fingers and potentially ruining lives and families was such a strenuously pursued social occupation. Now, Krebs on Security reports that Ashley Madison — the 14-year-old service for people who subscribe to the belief the "Life is short. Have an affair" — has been hacked. Krebs says that "The still-unfolding leak could be quite damaging to some 37 million users of the hookup service … The data released by the hacker or hackers — which self-identify as The Impact Team — includes sensitive internal data stolen from Avid Life Media (ALM), the Toronto-based firm that owns AshleyMadison as well as related hookup sites Cougar Life and Established Men."

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/07/20/even_cheating_dirtbags_deserve_privacy_the_ashley_madison_hack_shows_weve_reached_peak_sex_shaming/feed/146The siren song of the scumbag: Why smart women can’t resist terrible menhttp://www.salon.com/2014/11/16/the_siren_song_of_the_scumbag_why_smart_women_cant_resist_terrible_men/
http://www.salon.com/2014/11/16/the_siren_song_of_the_scumbag_why_smart_women_cant_resist_terrible_men/#commentsSun, 16 Nov 2014 22:30:00 +0000Laura Millerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13821432These are times to try the weary feminist reader's patience, when the conversation seems dominated by absolutist 23-year-olds still burning off the righteous indignation of their first women's studies courses. It's a cultural moment that begs for a worldly, ambiguity-friendly thinker like Laura Kipnis, an academic herself, but in film studies, and therefore less a promulgator of wishful thinking than an expert on the things we enjoy when we really ought to know better. In her latest collection of essays, "Men: Notes From an Ongoing Investigation," Kipnis explores her fondness for, fascination with and (very) occasional attraction to the less savory members of that gender. Her book, she confesses -- in what will be a long series of shamefaced admittances -- "is full of disreputable characters: unruly, often a little morally shady."

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/11/16/the_siren_song_of_the_scumbag_why_smart_women_cant_resist_terrible_men/feed/31Let’s all be a lot less honest: Lena Dunham, naked selfies, and the irony of oversharinghttp://www.salon.com/2014/11/16/lets_all_be_a_lot_less_honest_lena_dunham_naked_selfies_and_the_irony_of_oversharing/
http://www.salon.com/2014/11/16/lets_all_be_a_lot_less_honest_lena_dunham_naked_selfies_and_the_irony_of_oversharing/#commentsSun, 16 Nov 2014 17:30:00 +0000davedaleyhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13816988Duke University law professor Jedediah Purdy, the author of a deeply smart and ambitious book I obsessed over in 1999, "For Common Things," recently published a curious opinion piece on the Daily Beast. In it he writes, “There is something indecent in asking people to fake a feeling for a living” and argued that somehow modern capitalism performs “a pervasive intrusion on a key aspect of autonomy: the right to be yourself.” Purdy’s prime examples of the intruded-upon are waiters and waitresses, who he says are being extorted because they have to be nice to customers in order to receive tips, even though the act makes them betray their real feelings. He believes this pressure to be friendly is caused by “unequal economic power that extorts emotional work.” Being nice, he writes, has become the “the job of the less privileged ... that’s nothing new: emotional work is part of the oldest profession, but it’s a growing part of everyone’s experience.”

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/11/16/lets_all_be_a_lot_less_honest_lena_dunham_naked_selfies_and_the_irony_of_oversharing/feed/46I’m cheating on you right nowhttp://www.salon.com/2014/09/28/im_cheating_on_you_right_now/
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/28/im_cheating_on_you_right_now/#commentsSun, 28 Sep 2014 20:30:00 +0000davedaleyhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13779588A couple lies side by side in bed, each in their separate worlds, cellphones and laptops glowing in the dark. A text message is sent off at the intimate hour of midnight. An admiring remark on a Facebook profile picture pings somewhere via private message. A winky face is tacked on at the end of an email, or maybe this time it’s an XO. Too flirtatious? All of it can fly through the atmosphere unseen. Until in some cases it is seen, or sensed.

Digital-borne infatuation is commonplace. It was even used as part of a defense in a high-profile corruption trial this month: Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, could not have been conspiring to accept bribes from businessman Johnny Williams because they were barely communicating. Their marriage was falling apart. And part of the proof, ostensibly, were the 1,200 texts and calls Maureen was exchanging with Williams — evidence of what the defense calls her “crush” on him.

Whether an actual affair took place was never substantiated. But proof of copious communication was there — 52 texts and calls in one particular day. The defense, which failed to exonerate McDonnell, was banking on the suggestion of Maureen McDonnell’s obsessive and inappropriate need to connect.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/09/28/im_cheating_on_you_right_now/feed/12Don’t look at the leaked nudeshttp://www.salon.com/2014/09/02/dont_look_at_the_leaked_nudes/
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/02/dont_look_at_the_leaked_nudes/#commentsTue, 02 Sep 2014 14:41:00 +0000Mary Bethhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13761680We treat looking as a passive act. We make the mistake of assuming that what happens when we're just sitting at a computer isn't an active decision. But the last few weeks have given us all ample opportunities to rethink that belief – and to confront the moral imperative to sometimes just close our eyes. Or to put it another way – you don't have to look at Jennifer Lawrence's nudes.

When the news broke over the weekend that an expansive collection of nude photographs purporting to be of female celebrities including Kate Upton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and the Oscar-winning Lawrence had been posted to AnonIB and 4chan, it sparked an instant and expected slew of debates over slut shaming, Internet privacy and the media's salacious slobbering over a so-called scandal. Yet when I first heard about it, my first response was, "There's something else I'm going to have to actively avoid looking at now."

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/09/02/dont_look_at_the_leaked_nudes/feed/35We are all sexters now: America’s favorite amateur pornhttp://www.salon.com/2014/08/16/we_are_all_sexters_now_americas_favorite_amateur_porn/
http://www.salon.com/2014/08/16/we_are_all_sexters_now_americas_favorite_amateur_porn/#commentsSat, 16 Aug 2014 23:00:00 +0000davedaleyhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13748591It was only a few years ago when scolds and the media made “sexting” a national concern. Congressmen were being outed for exposing themselves in revealing sexts; states across the country were passing laws making it a crime; hundreds of kids were being busted for doing it; and talk-show talking heads, along with religious leaders and other social worthies, were bemoaning the fate of American youth. Sexting was scary.

Today, sexting has all but disappeared from public discourse. Sure, occasional teen busts are reported, but they capture far less media attention. Why? What’s happened to make the hottest media story of a couple of years ago pretty much disappear from the public stage?

With rare exception, the popular media are driven by the crisis du jour: the latest body count report, natural disaster or political sex scandal. So, yesterday’s news is so yesterday.

But sexting is more than a media story; it is the first original form of pornography to emerge in the 21st century. Sexting may have disappeared from the public spotlight, but it has not disappeared from public life.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/08/16/we_are_all_sexters_now_americas_favorite_amateur_porn/feed/26Behind the celebrity apology: Why so many are so badhttp://www.salon.com/2014/06/05/behind_the_celebrity_apology_why_so_many_are_so_bad/
http://www.salon.com/2014/06/05/behind_the_celebrity_apology_why_so_many_are_so_bad/#commentsThu, 05 Jun 2014 17:53:00 +0000Elias Isquithhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13693310After being caught on-camera calling a paparazzo a homophobic slur, what was supposed to be a media blitz to promote "22 Jump Street" has, instead, turned into a kind of makeshift apology tour for actor-comedian Jonah Hill. But, of course, Hill is hardly the first public figure — entertainer or otherwise — who has found himself in the unwelcome position of having to admit to millions of people that he acted like a jerk. It's not exactly a rite of passage in the process of celebrity, but it's close.

Hoping to better understand what, exactly, distinguishes a good public apology from a bad one, Salon recently spoke with Edwin Battistella, a professor of linguistics and writing at Southern Oregon University and the author of a new book, "Sorry About That: The Language of Public Apology." Along with a discussion of why public apologies are so vital to a healthy democracy, our conversation touched on public apologies from Hill, Mel Gibson, Bill Clinton and others. The interview can be found below and has been edited for clarity and length.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/06/05/behind_the_celebrity_apology_why_so_many_are_so_bad/feed/6Vance McAllister’s Christian failurehttp://www.salon.com/2014/04/09/vance_mcallisters_christian_failure/
http://www.salon.com/2014/04/09/vance_mcallisters_christian_failure/#commentsWed, 09 Apr 2014 18:48:00 +0000Mary Bethhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13647119If you've not already done so this week, please feel free to take a moment to point and laugh at Vance McAllister. Go on. He has it coming. And then forgive him. Just let it go. Not because he asked for it but because it's the right thing to do when somebody does something stupid.

The very married, very Christian Republican father of five and Louisiana congressman has been on a public walk of shame ever since the Ouachita Citizen released a security cam video of McAllister snogging his district scheduler Melissa Peacock in his congressional office last December. On the scale of damning evidence, it's considerably less unnerving than, say, those photos of Anthony Weiner's junk, or the details of Eliot Spitzer's trysts with "the most beautiful vagina in New York." It was, however, more than enough to mortify a politician who until recently was best known as the man who'd managed to secure the endorsement of "Duck Dynasty's" Robertson family in a recent runoff election, a rising GOP star who'd run on the promise he "would not shy from stressing his Christian faith." But when we said last fall, "We have to love our neighbor, which is the most bipartisan you can be," who knew he'd take it so literally?

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/04/09/vance_mcallisters_christian_failure/feed/34Anthony Weiner to pen column for Business Insiderhttp://www.salon.com/2014/03/24/anthony_weiner_to_pen_column_for_business_insider/
http://www.salon.com/2014/03/24/anthony_weiner_to_pen_column_for_business_insider/#commentsMon, 24 Mar 2014 17:32:00 +0000pguptahttp://www.salon.com/?p=13633293Professional media troll Anthony Weiner will be the next political columnist for Business Insider, a site run by professional media troll Henry Blodget.

In a column titled "Weiner!" the former congressman and failed New York City mayoral candidate will pen commentary with "the unique combination of brashness and wonkiness that made Weiner one of last year's most memorable candidates," which is one of the least-inspired euphemisms for the sexting scandal that eclipsed his mayoral bid in in 2013.

"It's great to have the opportunity to add to the always smart and often iconoclastic coverage of politics and policy at Business Insider," Weiner said in a statement. "I look forward to a spirited conversation with the BI community."

The Futures Company conducted a survey that found among 50-75 year olds, 24% have sent personal or intimate photos and messages by text, email, or photo over social media. Twenty-four percent! And that number assumes all sexting baby boomers questioned were willing to answer truthfully.

Another surprising new survey on the use of social media from the security tech company McAfee shows some alarming trends. Four out of five adults aged 50-75 are regularly active on social media networks. The majority of them use Facebook to do things like reconnect with old friends, and stay in touch with their children and grandchildren.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2013/10/24/study_your_parents_and_grandparents_may_be_sexting_partner/feed/2Anthony Weiner appears on Sean Hannity’s show, yellshttp://www.salon.com/2013/10/10/anthony_weiner_appears_on_sean_hannitys_show_yells/
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/10/anthony_weiner_appears_on_sean_hannitys_show_yells/#commentsThu, 10 Oct 2013 17:20:00 +0000Elias Isquithhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13502570Anthony Weiner and Sean Hannity are an odd couple that only a television producer could love, something they proved with aplomb Wednesday night on Hannity's Fox News show with a segment that began awkwardly before quickly descending into an even more uncomfortable yelling match.

Things got off to a rocky start, with Weiner refusing to engage with Hannity's first question — "What the hell were you thinking?" — and insisting he was on the show not to talk about himself but to talk about the middle class. The two then spent a good chunk of time going in circles, with Hannity repeatedly trying to get Weiner to comment on his many sex scandals, and with Weiner repeatedly dodging the question and attempting to redirect the conversation to policy.

Eventually they did get to policy ... sort of. When Hannity brought up the debt ceiling, Weiner interjected with questions of his own, asking the Fox News host again and again whether he supported raising the debt ceiling. Hannity ultimately granted that the debt ceiling would have to be raised, but not before complaining about Weiner's commandeering the interview. "What am I — a potted plant?" Weiner responded.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2013/10/10/anthony_weiner_appears_on_sean_hannitys_show_yells/feed/6Jimmy Fallon and Sheryl Crow sing a very, very blue farewell to Anthony Weinerhttp://www.salon.com/2013/09/13/jimmy_fallon_and_sheryl_crow_sing_a_very_very_blue_farewell_to_anthony_weiner/
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/13/jimmy_fallon_and_sheryl_crow_sing_a_very_very_blue_farewell_to_anthony_weiner/#commentsFri, 13 Sep 2013 13:35:00 +0000kmcdonoughhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13476456Anthony Weiner suffered a pretty humiliating defeat this week in the New York City mayoral race. Then he said he was an imperfect messenger. Then he gave everyone the middle finger.

A lot of people have always hated Weiner, but it's pretty safe to say that now more people than ever hate him. The odds of him staging a future political comeback are slim. In all likelihood, Weiner will follow the lead of so many not-so-great men before him by receding from public view and taking a lucrative consulting job somewhere. (Or maybe teaching at the City University of New York!)

All of which is to say that the window for making jokes about Weiner's last name may soon be shut for good. Which is sad, sad news for late night talk show hosts and pun-happy journalists.

Perhaps realizing that the end of such phallic riffs is nigh, Jimmy Fallon recruited Sheryl Crow to send Weiner off with a double entendre-laden farewell song.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2013/09/13/jimmy_fallon_and_sheryl_crow_sing_a_very_very_blue_farewell_to_anthony_weiner/feed/3The politics of flipping the birdhttp://www.salon.com/2013/09/11/the_politics_of_flipping_the_bird/
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/11/the_politics_of_flipping_the_bird/#commentsWed, 11 Sep 2013 15:39:00 +0000Mary Bethhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13474368Frankly, I'm relieved any time the guy makes a penis-related gesture that doesn't literally involve his penis. But it did seem rather unsporting when, after finishing fifth in New York City's mayoral primary -- just slightly ahead of the write-in vote for "Your Mom" -- Anthony Weiner capped his astoundingly futile campaign on Tuesday night by flipping the bird at a reporter.

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Both NY1 News reporter Lindsey Christ and Brooklyn reporter Kate Rose captured the image of a grim-looking Weiner solemnly flashing his middle finger at the end of a long, crushing day in which his sexting buddy Sydney Leathers tried to crash his campaign party, he had to make an undignified escape through a McDonald's, and oh yeah, the man with more hubris than Kanye had to concede his political career is dunzo. It seemed somehow a fittingly stupid, petulant capper to his entire stupid, petulant campaign, an exasperated, tantrummy display. But on the Weiner scale of gross gestures, that fleeting, blurry image of a digit going by hardly seems a big deal. Nevertheless, several television news outlets, as well as publications like the Daily Mail, refused to show the image at all -- or pixelated the offending finger out. (Because the Daily Mail is all about class and restraint.)

]]>http://www.salon.com/2013/09/11/the_politics_of_flipping_the_bird/feed/32De Blasio leads NY mayoral primaryhttp://www.salon.com/2013/09/11/de_blasio_leads_ny_mayoral_primary/
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/11/de_blasio_leads_ny_mayoral_primary/#commentsWed, 11 Sep 2013 03:51:00 +0000nlennardhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13474064NEW YORK (AP) — Public Advocate Bill de Blasio held a clear lead Tuesday night in New York City's mayoral Democratic primary as polls closed, according to early and incomplete voting returns. It was unclear, though, whether he would top the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

De Blasio's rise in the race to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg was as sudden as it was unexpected.

Not even two months ago, he was an afterthought in the campaign but surged in part thanks to an ad blitz that centered on his interracial family, his headline-grabbing arrest while protesting the possible closure of a Brooklyn hospital and the defection of ex-congressman Anthony Weiner's former supporters in the wake of another sexting scandal.

With 87 percent of precincts reporting, de Blasio has about 39.6 percent of the total vote. Former city Comptroller Bill Thompson has 26 percent, and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has 15 percent. They were followed by current city Comptroller John Liu at 7 percent and Weiner at 5 percent.

Exit polling showed the appeal of de Blasio, the city's elected public advocate, to be broad-based: He was ahead in all five boroughs; was ahead of Thompson, the only African-American candidate, with black voters and ahead of Quinn, the lone woman in the race, with female voters. He also led Quinn, who is openly gay, among gay voters.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2013/09/11/de_blasio_leads_ny_mayoral_primary/feed/0NY mayoral primary plagued by voting machine problemshttp://www.salon.com/2013/09/10/ny_mayoral_primary_plagued_by_voting_machine_problems/
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/10/ny_mayoral_primary_plagued_by_voting_machine_problems/#commentsTue, 10 Sep 2013 23:01:00 +0000nlennardhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13473969NEW YORK (AP) — As New York City’s contentious primary campaign drew to a close Tuesday, some voters – including one leading mayoral candidate – encountered problems with the city’s decades-old voting machines. Turnout appeared light, but the city’s complaint line received several thousand voting-related calls. Many reported jams and breakdowns in the antiquated lever machines, which were hauled out of retirement to replace much-maligned electronic devices. In some sites, the broken machines forced voters to use pen and paper to cast their ballot. Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota presumably wrote his own name when his machine broke at his Brooklyn polling place. Democrat Anthony Weiner, whose mayoral campaign was dogged by a persistent sexting scandal, also encountered a problem when poll workers were briefly unable to find his signature. Other candidates had no trouble voting for themselves, including Democratic front-runner Bill de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, who is pitching himself as the cleanest break from Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration. And while just weeks ago his campaign was an afterthought, he now has a legitimate shot of surging right past the 40 percent mark that would avoid a runoff three weeks from now. “He’s the candidate that represents the most change,” said Joshua Bauchner, 40, an attorney who voted in Harlem for de Blasio. A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday, de Blasio was the choice of 39 percent of likely Democratic voters. De Blasio’s rise was as sudden as it was unexpected. He benefited from placing his interracial family at the heart of his campaign, connecting with voters over the need for NYPD reforms, and by drawing away voters from Weiner following the former congressman’s latest scandal. If de Blasio’s support holds, the other spot in a potential runoff Oct. 1 appears to be a matchup between City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former Comptroller Bill Thompson. Quinn, who is bidding to become the city’s first female and first openly gay mayor, led the polls for most of the year but has seen support disappear as her rivals have repeatedly linked her to the bitter debate to let Bloomberg run for a third term in 2009. “I think she’s got the experience from working with Bloomberg,” said Lupe Moreno, 65, a real estate broker, who voted in Harlem for Quinn. Thompson, the race’s lone African-American, who stunned the political world in 2009 by nearly upsetting the billionaire Bloomberg, has said he is counting on winning the bulk of black and Latino voters to propel him to the runoff. Harlem voter Joe Beverly said he would not decide between Thompson and de Blasio until he was in the booth. “Two very good candidates,” said Beverly. “The most important issue to me is city economics and the disparity, the tale of two cities, rich and poor; stop and frisk the way the police act, and the future of the city.” Republicans will look to continue an improbable winning streak. Though outnumbered by Democrats in the city 6 to 1, the GOP has won the last five mayoral elections. Bloomberg was an independent running on the Republican line four years ago. Lhota, the former MTA chairman who received acclaim for steering the transit agency through Superstorm Sandy last fall, has led the polls all campaign. A former deputy mayor to Rudolph Giuliani, Lhota has pledged to maintain the city’s record low crime rates. His primary challenger is John Catsimatidis, a billionaire grocery store magnate who has unleashed a series of blistering attack ads on Lhota, including one that mocks the front runner for dismissing Port Authority police officers as “mall cops.” Catsimatidis has spent more than $4 million of his own money on the race, but that’s a far cry from the $102 million Bloomberg spent four years ago. Bronx voter Fabian Feliciano, a 43-year-old city social services worker, called Lhota the best all-around candidate, adding, “He’ll really take care of the middle class.” Also Tuesday, former Gov. Eliot Spitzer was trying to make a political comeback in the Democratic primary for city comptroller. Seeking to rebuild a political career devastated by a prostitution scandal, Spitzer took on Scott Stringer, Manhattan’s borough president.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2013/09/10/ny_mayoral_primary_plagued_by_voting_machine_problems/feed/5Lawrence O’Donnell plays Anthony Weiner’s psychiatrist during awkward interviewhttp://www.salon.com/2013/09/10/lawrence_odonnell_plays_anthony_weiners_psychiatrist_during_awkward_interview/
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/10/lawrence_odonnell_plays_anthony_weiners_psychiatrist_during_awkward_interview/#commentsTue, 10 Sep 2013 13:27:00 +0000pguptahttp://www.salon.com/?p=13473161Last night, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell turned his show, "The Last Word," into spectacular, dramatic television in an awkward interview with New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner. It was so hostile that it left Weiner, unpalatable to a majority of New Yorkers, seeming oddly and uncomfortably sympathetic.

Offering his last interview before Tuesday's election, for six cringe-inducing minutes, Weiner was forced to respond to O'Donnell yelling, "What is wrong with you!" O'Donnell was not referring to Weiner's multiple sexting scandals, but instead to the way Weiner spent his time after his resignation from Congress in 2011.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2013/09/10/lawrence_odonnell_plays_anthony_weiners_psychiatrist_during_awkward_interview/feed/1Anthony Weiner: “I’m gonna be the next mayor” of New Yorkhttp://www.salon.com/2013/09/08/anthony_weiner_i%e2%80%99m_gonna_be_the_next_mayor_of_new_york/
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/08/anthony_weiner_i%e2%80%99m_gonna_be_the_next_mayor_of_new_york/#commentsSun, 08 Sep 2013 22:11:00 +0000pguptahttp://www.salon.com/?p=13471631Former Congressman Anthony Weiner, better known these days as Carlos Danger, is convinced that he will win the bid for New York's mayor despite polls placing him in fourth place at just 7 percent. "I’m convinced that I’m gonna be the next mayor of this city," he told Savannah Guthrie in an exclusive interview that aired on Sunday's "Meet the Press."

Weiner assured Guthrie that he no longer sends sexually explicit text messages to strangers -- a habit that led him to resign from Congress in 2011 and one which he said he'd recovered from post-resignation, until it was revealed that he lied about that. Still, he insists now that, "No, I think that with the help of my wife, with help of professionals that I've got it behind me."

But Weiner skirted questions regarding his wife, Huma Abedin, who had supported him through his supposed rehabilitation and helped announce his mayoral candidacy.

"Will [Huma] be by your side on Election night?" asked Guthrie.

"I don't know," he said.

Weiner will appear on the "Today" show on Monday morning for a second interview, one day before the primary election.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2013/09/08/anthony_weiner_i%e2%80%99m_gonna_be_the_next_mayor_of_new_york/feed/2Camille Paglia: “It remains baffling how anyone would think that Hillary Clinton is our party’s best chance”http://www.salon.com/2013/08/21/camille_paglia_it_remains_baffling_how_anyone_would_think_that_hillary_clinton_is_our_party%e2%80%99s_best_chance/
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/21/camille_paglia_it_remains_baffling_how_anyone_would_think_that_hillary_clinton_is_our_party%e2%80%99s_best_chance/#commentsWed, 21 Aug 2013 16:45:00 +0000Tracy C-Fhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13449173I can vividly remember the first time I read Camille Paglia. I was visiting New York with my mom during college and we happened across "Vamps and Tramps" at a bookstore near our hotel. Lying in neighboring twin beds, I read passages out loud to her. Explosive things like, "Patriarchy, routinely blamed for everything, produced the birth control pill, which did more to free contemporary women than feminism itself." I didn't always agree with Paglia, but I enjoyed her as a challenging provocateur.

I still have that copy of the book. There are asterisks in the margins, double-underlined sentences and circled paragraphs. Reading it was a satisfying rebellion against the line-toeing women's studies classes I was taking at the time -- and at a college with an infamously anti-porn professor, no less. Since then, I have moments of genuine outrage and fury over Paglia's writing and public commentary (see: this, this and this, for examples of why) -- but she is still compelling and occasionally brilliant. The truth is that many people still want to hear what she has to say -- about everything from BDSM to Lady Gaga.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2013/08/21/camille_paglia_it_remains_baffling_how_anyone_would_think_that_hillary_clinton_is_our_party%e2%80%99s_best_chance/feed/1623Introducing new Carlos Danger brand weinershttp://www.salon.com/2013/08/19/introducing_the_new_carlos_danger_brand_weiner/
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/19/introducing_the_new_carlos_danger_brand_weiner/#commentsMon, 19 Aug 2013 16:26:00 +0000lfieldshttp://www.salon.com/?p=13452398When news of Carlos Danger's sexploits first burst forth on the scene, the Internet rubbed its hands in glee, ready to generate any number of jokes and memes about Anthony Weiner's cartoon-like alter ego.

The latest to give the New York mayor hopeful a good grilling, so to speak, is Randall Richards, marketing executive and brainparent of the "extra large" Carlos Danger Weiner that "rises to any occasion."

"There's a lot of excitement about it and we think they're going to fly off the shelves," says Richards. "I mean how many times do you introduce a new product that has this much press going for it?"

Indeed, since the website went live on Friday, Richards has received close to 5,000 pre-orders of the well-girthed Danger Weiner, which contains a full quarter-pound of beef and weighs twice the size of a regular hotdog.

Pricing starts at just $4, but Richards says he's sold many more of the $80, "Super Tailgater Packs," which comes with 40 Weiners and a side order of adhesive mustaches and beer koozies.